Maiden listing of 2007 joins the losers' club

Cairn India on Tuesday joined a not-so-pretty list of companies that have made their debut on the market at a discount. Cairn India, which ended the first day at a discount of 14.13 per cent, follows a list comprising Air Deccan (down 32.21 per cent on listing day), Jagran Prakash (down 14.48 per cent) and Unity Infraprojects (down 30.12 per cent).

The last time a scrip got listed at a discount to the issue price was XL Telecom (down 9.33 per cent to Rs 136) and Ruchira Papers (down 8.91 per cent to Rs 20.95) "" both in December.

Cairn India, a subsidiary of the UK-based Cairns Energy, which hit the market at a price of Rs 160-190, had faced difficulties in getting investors attracted to the issue.

Air Deccan, the low-cost airline, had also faced similar difficulties at the time of the IPO, but its public issue had come when the markets faced a meltdown of May-June last year. 

THE LOST WORLD
Company	Listing day LTP	% Change
Cairn India	137.40	-14.13
Air Deccan	98.85	-33.21
Jagran Prakash	273.65	-14.48
Unity Infraprojects	471.10	-30.12
Deep Industries	27.90	-22.50
Prime Focus	325.35	-21.98

"Cairn listing cannot be compared to others as the sectors are completely different. In the case of Cairn India, it is a long gestation project and during this period, there are no revenues flowing in," said Janish Shah, head, research, Networth Stock Broking.

Analysts also opined that Cairn was expected to list at its issue price or at a slight discount, in contrast to others, where there were better expectations on the trading debut day.